Gunpowder.



(No Model.)

I whesses:

Patented Jan. 28, I902. F. W. JONES.

GUNPOWDER.

(Application filed Nov. 27, 1899.)

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UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK WILLIAM JONES, OF BARWICK, NEAR WVA E, ENGLAND.-

GUNPOWDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 692,143, dated January 28, 1902. Original application filed December 6, 1898, Serial No. 698,413. Divided and this application filed November 27. 1899. Serial No. '738A54.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, FREDERICK WILLIAM JONES, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Barwick, near Ware, in the county of Hartford, England, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Gunpowder, of which the following is a specification, and for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 15,553, dated July 15, 1898.

This'application is a division of my application Serial No. 698,413, filed December 6, 1898.

My invention relates to an improved gunpowder produced by treating granulated gelatinized powder for regulating and controlling the time occupied in the combustion of such powder. Heretofore with granulated gelatinized gunpowder the grains composing a charge were all practically ignited before the projectile had time to move any material distance along the barrel of the gun. Heretofore efiorts have been made by' varying the size or shape of the grains of powder or forming perforations through the grains to change or vary the time or rate of combustion of the grains and to thereby adapt such gunpowder to guns of difierent caliber. These objects have been sought because the practically simultaneous ignition of the whole of the grains of a charge is very disadvantageous, because this takes place early in the travel of the projectile and often in a chamber of comparatively small capacity in which there is produceda too high initial pressure, and thus the weight of the charge and thereby the velocity given to the projectile are unduly limited by reason of the mechanical difficulties of gun construction. Efforts have also been made to slow the combustion of a charge by slowing the combustion of each in dividual grain. In such cases it has been the combustion of the grain after ignition that has been dealt with. My present invention differs therefrom in dealing with the ignition of the grain before combustion, it being a fact that the actual combustion of each grain is not interfered with, and I have found that a more beneficial effect can be produced by delaying the passage of ignition from grain to grain; and the object of my present invention is limited to a powder in which the (No specimenscommunication of ignition by the primer is regulated progressively, the whole of the grains not being ignited until, so to speak, some time after the initial ignition. The evolution of gas under these circumstances will commence successively in different parts of the charge and not, as heretofore, practically at the same moment in all parts. In this manner I can use larger charges of powder than heretofore, with lower initial pressures, and this without having the grains of a size, form, or composition which will render the combustion of the same too slow to become'complete before the projectile reaches the mouth of the gun-barrel. With this powder the combustion of a whole charge is regulated without slowing the combustion or Without affecting the explosiveness of any individual grain considered separately] This condition is produced by an adhering thin and mechanicallyapplied non-penetrating coating and an outer glaze upon the surface of the grain of powder. Such coating is practically continuous, forming an inclosing shell. The coating is of such material as to be non-explosive,but combustible. The said coating is located entirely upon the outside of the grain and wholly surrounding the same, but not penetrating nor in any way affecting the composition of the grains of powderor the speed of combustion or the explosiveness of the inclosed grains when once ignited, but has the eifect of simply delaying or prolonging the time which it takes for one ignited grain to communicate ignition to the next adjacent grain.

In the drawing the figure represents a magnified section of a grain m of gelatinized gunpowder,havin g such coating or shell (1 and such outer glaze b as hereinafter more particularly described.

For such coating or shell or I employ a solid hydrocarbon, preferably ceresin, and in producing this powder I take the manufactured granulated gelatinized gunpowder which has been prepared by any of the wellknown methods and coat the grains with a non-explosive, but combustible, solid hydrocarbon of high melting-point which has no chemical action on the substance of the grain and is not capable of penetrating the same. Such material is ceresin. In no instance do I employ a solid hydrocarbon, which would cause the grains to adhere at a temperature below 150 Fahrenheit, which may be taken as the limit of service temperature.

In the method of coating I take the grains dried and free from solvent and add to the same a proper proportion of the solid hydrocarbon coating material in a finely-divided state. Such coating material is not usually added in a greater proportion than three per cent. of the powder treated; but I do not limit myself to this percentage, as it is desirable to arrive at the requisite percentage by experiment in connection with the particular powder to be treated and the gun in which the same is to be used. The powdergrains and the finelydivided solid hydrocarbon are to be placed in a suitable receptacle and subjected to agitation. The ordinary rotating drum such as is commonly employed in the well-known process of polishing powder with graphite may be used for this purpose. I prefer to mix with the powder slightly more of the solid hydrocarbon than is needed for the mechanically-applied surface, so that thereafter the powder may be separated from the residue of hydrocarbon bysifting. This solid hydrocarbon or ceresin during the process of agitation forms a thin mechanically-applied non-penetrating coating on the grains of powder, and the rubbing action incident to such agitation is usually sufficient to produce the necessary degree of cohesion of the coating to the powder-grains. This may be facilitated by a slight heating, which in no case must be sufficient to melt the coating material, because should the coating material become melted the substance of the grains would be detrimentally affected and the subject of the invention would not be fully attained. The thickness of the mechanically-applied non-penetrating coating may be regulated by the percentage of solid hydrocarbon mixed with the gunpowder, and the same may vary with different powders and different guns in which the powder is to be used. After the grains of powder are thus treated I prefer to polish or glaze the same with powdered graphite, formingsaid outer glaze b, in order to render the gunpowder smooth and easy to handle and load into the gun.

The term grain is herein used in its ordinary sense as applied to gunpowder and does not include the particles of which such grains are composed nor the relatively granular particles of non-granulated explosives.

I claim as my invention 1. As a new article of manufacture, a granulated gelatinized gunpowder in which each separate grain is provided with a continuous adhering coating or shell of a comparatively slow burning solid hydrocarbon having a melting-point above 150 Fahrenheit, lying wholly upon the surface of the grain and entirely surrounding it, and an outer glaze of powdered graphite, substantially as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a granulated gelatinized gunpowder in which each separate grain is provided with a continuous adhering coating or shell of the solid hydrocarbon ceresin, lying wholly upon the surface of the grain and entirely surrounding it, and an outer glaze of powdered graphite, substantially as set forth.

FREDERICK 'WILLIAM JONES.

\Vltnesses:

FREDERICK COWLEY HARRS, WILLIAM ANDREW MARsHALL. 

